Kwik Fit launches advertising campaign serving custom jokes to drivers

Automotive repair and servicing company, Kwik Fit, has launched an out-of-home (OOH) campaign, which scans cars to provide custom jokes to road users.

The ‘Road Happy’ campaign by OOH agency, VCCP, anonymously analyses vehicles as they are stuck in queues at traffic lights, serving drivers with a joke according to the make, class, colour, or fuel type of their vehicle.

Examples of jokes in the campaign include: “Hey you in the Italian car. Why should you always use a sat nav? Because otherwise you’ll just Rome around”; “Hey, driver in the white car. Why does it cost so much to put air in a tyre? Inflation!”; and “Hey cab driver. What’s worse than raining cats and dogs? Hailing taxis!”

The ads, which operate using Ocean Outdoor’s ‘vehicle react’ technology, conclude with the uplifting message – ‘Happy drivers are safer drivers’.

The campaign is a winner of a Silver award in Ocean’s annual Digital Creative Competition, which aims to foster original ideas in digital out-of-home (DOOH).

The aim is to bring levity to road users and combat road rage, with Kwik Fit’s mission being for motorists to “drive away happy every time”. This is to contrast with what Kwik Fit labels as soaring insurance premiums and rising prices at the petrol pump. According to Ocean, In 2023 more than two thirds of drivers admitted to experiencing road rage.

The campaign launched on April 28^th across six roadside locations which are enabled with Ocean’s vehicle react technology in five major UK cities. The ads will appear until each location has hit 6,000 ‘play outs’.

Harry Neale, strategist at VCCP, says: “Kwik Fit exists to keep Britain’s drivers safe on the roads and ensure that they drive away happy, every time.

“That isn’t just when they leave a Kwik Fit centre, but whenever they are on the road. This campaign helps to do just that, with the opportunity to have a positive impact on drivers beyond just the physical service provided. Road rage is no joke, but by using Ocean’s vehicle react technology to grab people’s attention with an extra layer of relevancy, we can turn it into one.”

Jennifer Bell, head of marketing at Ocean Outdoor UK, adds: “This campaign is a positive reinforcement of the brand. A refreshingly simple creative idea which is right where Kwik Fit positions itself. As a motorist, you do not know that you are being teched – and it would be hard not to crack a smile at the ‘dad jokes.”